THE HEAD of the eastern Slovak regional police inspection authority was recalled from his post after he crashed his police car while driving drunk.
The police inspection chief for Slovakia's second largest city Košice, Jaroslav Dzurik, was returning from a meeting of inspection chiefs on October 8, where some of his colleagues reportedly tried to talk to him about his drinking problem.
Jozef Kret, head of the inspection department with the Interior Ministry admitted he and Dzurik's colleagues knew about Dzurik's problem. "I have already taken several measures against him for his drinking," said Kret.
Although no major damage was done, Dzurik drove away from the scene after colliding with another car.
From the beginning of this year a total of 20 drunk officers have caused or been involved in traffic accidents. Although former Interior Minister Ivan Šimko took an uncompromising approach to drunk policemen, firing or demoting most of them, officers continue to be involved in drunk driving accidents.
